


Aim and Accuracy

by HorseLoverTW



Category: Young Justice, Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-09-01
Updated: 2012-09-08
Packaged: 2017-11-13 07:23:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/500945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HorseLoverTW/pseuds/HorseLoverTW
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Artemis begins her journey at Gotham Academy, befriending a mysterious senior and trying not to become charmed by an annoyingly intelligent freshman. The story follows season one of the show from 'Homefront' on to the finale.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Numbers are tools, not rules

Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Artemis unconsciously tugged down on her skirt again. She understood the reasoning for uniforms, but did they have to be so… short? It felt more than a little sexist. Maybe she could put in a protest and get some slacks. Then again, who was the archer vigilante that strode around in a leather midriff costume? Oh yea… Maybe she could just learn to deal with the skirt.

  
As the Betty girl or whatever her name was introducing herself to Artemis, in a peppy, bordering on possible cheerleader/student class president way, a boy ran up behind Artemis, swung his arm around her shoulder and snapped a picture.

  
“We’ll laugh about this some day.”

  
Before she had a chance to even cry an indignant, “Hey!” however, the boy was gone. Like creepy ninja disappearing into shadows gone.

  
After getting the five-minute tour, plus the over-enthusiastic, ‘you’re going to love it here! Don’t be a stranger’ routine, Bette mercifully deposited Artemis at her first period class. As she gazed forlornly up at the door with the imposing heading of, ‘ENGLISH,’ Artemis bit her lip. She thought of the desperate look on her mom’s face as she’d begged Artemis to go to Gotham Academy. Her mother had gone down a dark path and now all of her hopes she kept in Artemis. Expectations were nothing new to Artemis, the doubt that plagued her as she stared at that door however...

  
This school had a reputation for being the best. Gotham City was huge. It had hundreds of public and private schools, and this was the best. Students that went here went onto Harvard and Yale and other frighteningly ivy-tinged places. Artemis wasn’t sure how she had received the Wayne scholarship- she’d never even applied- but she did know that when she really wanted something, it was hers. Question was, how much did she want to pummel the rich kids on their own turf?

  
…About as much as she wanted Kid Flash to develop laryngitis.

  
Her resolve mounting, Artemis reached for the doorknob.

  
Just as another hand did.

  
“Hey,” the kid said in a friendly tone, opening the door for her in a show of gallantry. He looked about a year or two younger than Artemis but that wasn’t the first thing she noticed. The first thing she noticed were his eyes. They were a deep shade of blue, so emphatic she wondered if his world was tinged that way.

  
And they were connected to a familiar looking smirk. Artemis frowned. “You’re that kid that snapped a photo of me. What gives?”

  
He shrugged nonchalantly. “Just figured we’d be seeing a lot of each other.”

  
“Yea, and why’s that?” she said, narrowing her eyes at him as they entered the classroom.

  
“Well, I could point out that you’re a scholarship kid- yea, word does travel fast here- and that implies that you’ll be in the honors courses. Or, I could just say it’s a feeling.” He sat down in a seat near the back, next to the classroom’s sole window and in front of the teacher’s rather hefty bookshelf stuffed with literature and magazines. He pulled out his composition notebook and two pens that he proceeded to neatly arrange around his meticulously non graffiti-stained literature text.

  
Seeing that most of the other seats were already occupied, Artemis tentatively sat in the vacant desk beside the strange boy’s. “So, you’re a scholarship kid too then? Skipped a few grades or something?”

  
Again with the familiar looking smirk. “Something like that.”

  
“Dick?” The teacher called.

  
“Present!” He yelled back enthusiastically.

  
Perfect, Artemis thought.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dick hadn’t been kidding.

  
Out of her eight classes, he was in five: English Literature, World History, Pre-Calculus, Chemistry, and French.

  
In French, the teacher had Artemis take an assessment while partner groups went over their assignments from last week. She turned it in five minutes later much to the teacher’s arched brow that rose dramatically after the woman had actually looked her test over.

  
“C’est magnifique!” the woman exclaimed much to Artemis’s horror. “This is wonderful! I know just who to partner you with!”

  
Just as Artemis knew she would, the woman reached behind her and seemed to grab Dick out of thin air. “You two will get along splendidly!”

  
The story was much the same in Pre-Cal except for the part where Artemis was awesome at it. She had been in the advanced math course at her old school, Gotham Heights, it was true. However, that had entailed algebra II, not pre-calculus.

  
By the time the elderly math teacher had gotten around to checking Artemis’s practice problems, frustrated tears were on the verge of spilling forth. The man stared impassively at the tried and failed, tried, and then tried again and failed attempts on her paper before calling for Dick. “This young man is going to tutor you until you get your bearings sweetheart. Don’t you worry. You’ll catch up with us in no time.” And then he left the two of them to help a girl that had been holding her hand up for so long she’d fallen asleep with it propped up in front of her. He’d never once even looked at Artemis’s teary eyes, for which she was eternally grateful.

  
She raked a hand over her face and dropped her head onto the desk’s cool top. Dick smiled and scooted his chair next to hers. “Hey, no sweat scholar-girl. Numbers are tools, not rules!”

  
Artemis groaned.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Lunch turned out to be the best part of the day, for at Gotham Academy students were allowed to take their meals and eat outside in the courtyard. There were picnic tables that seemed to be reserved for specific stereotypical groups such as the jocks, the techno-nerds, the cheerleaders, the emo crowd, and the preps. Well, scratch that last one, Artemis thought as she looked over the scene holding her primo cut of cardboard pizza and soggy mac and cheese aloft- turns out private school food was just as nasty as public- Most of the students here were preps. Heck, Artemis herself looked like one with the stupid skirt, tie, and crisp, white, regulation oxford tucked-in to perfection. Her mom had been so proud when she’d seen her that morning before Artemis had caught the subway she’d even taken a picture!

  
Away from the picnic tables was a grassy area with a few oaks. Scattered amongst the shade groves were students of a more indefinable category. It was towards them that Artemis pointed her sorry lunch.

  
Of course the problem of lunch is the social nature of it. Artemis had barely gone five feet onto the grass when Dick saw her and waved her over to where he was sitting with a pretty redheaded girl. Artemis, panicking that she’d be trapped forever chained to the odd younger boy, abruptly did an about face and ran smack into a beanpole. Her mac went flying into the grass but Artemis used her quick reflexes and managed to snatch her cardboard pizza just before it could make impact with a wiry boy’s startled pale face.

  
“Uh…” she said, “Sorry about that.”

  
The boy, actually man now that she saw him more clearly, for he was probably a senior, flicked off a few specks of cheese from his shirt, before impatiently tucking back an errant lock of dark, wavy brown hair. “Yes, well… At least you caught the pizza before we’d both have been really sorry.”

  
Artemis was taken aback. “Umm…excuse me? I think what you’re looking for here is, ‘it’s okay, don’t worry about it, no harm, no foul.’”

  
He leveled his icy blue eyes on her. “You’re new here.”

  
“I’m aware of this,” she shot back with a glare.

  
He studied her for several moments, his aristocratic face unreadable. Artemis didn’t back down but was surprised when he finally broke the stare and said, “My name is Jon. Care to sit with me…

  
Deflating a little, Artemis heard her voice supplying, “Artemis,” almost against her will.

  
“Artemis. Like the Greek Goddess famed for her virtue and skill with a bow?” He politely inquired, almost conversationally as he led her toward a vacated spot under a gnarled oak.

  
“Uh…sure…”Artemis wasn’t usually at such a loss for words but the boy was unsettling. His entire presence was just…cold. But still, none of the other rich kids aside from Dick the smirkalot, were offering to sit with her so Artemis followed and added, “But I think my mom just has a thing for deer.”

  
They sat under the tree and half-heartedly dug into their lunches, the senior’s long legs looking as elegant as his piano fingers, curled up as they were beneath him Indian-style.

  
“So,” Artemis said, painfully swallowing the last bite of the plastic cheese framing her cardboard slice of pepperoni. “I take it this is your last year here?”

  
He nodded. “Sophomore?”

  
“Yep. That obvious, huh?”

  
“You reek of it.”

  
“Hmm… careful, I might think you have a sense of humor.”

  
“Well, we can’t have that,” he said with a languid grin, finishing his lunch and leaning back against the trunk of the tree.

  
“Aren’t seniors supposed to avoid lower classmen like the plague?” Artemis asked innocently, scooting a little closer.

  
His eyes glanced beyond her and he arched an eyebrow skeptically. “I could say the same for all upperclassmen avoiding the freshies. What’s the deal with Grayson and you?”

  
Artemis didn’t even have to look- though she did anyway- to know he was gesturing to Dick and his redheaded companion. Dick was surreptitiously glancing her way every now and then. When he saw that he’d caught her eye, he gave a grin and waved.

  
Artemis heaved a sigh. “We have a ton of classes together and the teacher’s seem to think that we’re primo partner material. Do you know anything about him? Like why he’s even in my classes if he’s a fish?”

  
“You mean you don’t know who he is?” She shook her head. That seemed to surprise him but he told her, “Dick Grayson is Bruce Wayne’s adopted son. He’s also an apparent genius. He skipped two grades and is the captain of the mathletes.” Jon said all this as though he were as fond of Dick and his celebrity status as Artemis was of hearing Oliver go on about Speedy.

  
Dick Grayson. Hmm… that would explain the giant trophy with his name… as well as the being thirteen years old and taking classes with fifteen year olds. But Bruce Wayne’s adopted son!? Really? The boy didn’t seem stuck up in the least. He was a little irksome with his being clever at everything and annoyingly chipper in pretty much every class, but he wasn’t what she’d have expected for the playboy billionaire’s heir apparent. Not in the least.

  
“Oh.” She said at last.

  
Jon’s cool gaze ran over her once more, like glacial water. “This school can be a little intimidating but I thought a girl named after a Goddess wouldn’t be so afraid.”

  
“Hey, I’m not actually Artemis and I’m definitely not afraid.”

  
“We’ll see,” he murmured indifferently.

 


	2. Butterpops

Disclaimer: I don’t own ‘Young Justice’. I also don’t own the rights to ‘V for Vendetta’ or ‘Three Days of the Condor’ just to be clear, as if that wasn’t painfully so already. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Way to get ‘traught,” Robin coughed, his signature cocky grin looking a little water-logged and his visor lenses fixed on her. Drops of moisture were still falling from his messy black locks and his cape was missing. He seemed very small at that moment. 

Artemis hiccupped and wasted no time in grabbing the surprised boy wonder and crushing him against her in a hug that even Superboy would have been proud of. 

She felt Robin’s arms tentatively encircle her frame so that they were both involved in the action but soon enough they heard a throat clearing and Kid Jealousy yelling, “Hey! I want a hug too! A little help here!”

Artemis reluctantly released Robin, holding him at arms length for just another second, reassuring herself that he was alive and well. 

“I won’t dissolve the moment you release me, you know,” he pointed out, his tone light but his words soft and low. 

“I know,” she said at last. “It’s just…you were amazing tonight, Robin. We’d all be dead right now if it weren’t for you.”

His hand went to her shoulder and he leaned toward her slightly with a small Robinish grin. “All in day’s work.” 

They stared at each other then for just a fraction too long, their faces very close. Artemis noticed a tension in his jaws just as a frown fell over his face like a passing storm cloud and he said more seriously, “But you’re the real hero of the hour, Artemis. When everything mattered, you came through.” His gloved hand gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze, and Artemis gazed at him in wonder. Was he really younger than all of them? Sometimes he acted so beyond his years. Must be a bat thing. 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Artemis had felt betrayed and enraged at the news of Kaldur’s omission and the mysterious turn of Red Tornado. Looking back at their mission to India, she knew she’d acted unfairly toward the Atlantian but she’d only been able to see red after hearing the news. 

Well, that wasn’t entirely true. She’d also been thinking about her shared time with Robin in Mount Justice’s ventilation system. 

She had trained extensively with Green Arrow after Batman had convinced her to join the Young Justice team. The two archers had gone patrolling through Star City and more than once they’d had to work together to bring down a baddie. Before that, Artemis could remember her dad teaching her survival skills and the tricks of the trade with the bow and arrow. They’d gone hunting together, not exactly for animals of the traditional variety, but they had worked together, stalking the shadows with bows at the ready, side by side. 

Partnering with Robin was nothing like working with Green Arrow or learning from her dad. Robin and she, without them even being aware of it at first, could read each other’s moves. It might have been in part due to Robin’s years of silently reading Batman and being able to deduce his partner’s moves before they’d even thought them up. It could also have been due in part to Artemis’s need for a partner, someone she could trust after the disturbing loss of her father and then Jade.  
Whatever the case, by the time M’gann’s bioship had landed in northern India, Robin and her had hit their stride, literally. Dropping to the ground within milliseconds of each other, Artemis felt exhilaration well up inside her like a rising balloon at the knowledge that without even communicating, she knew exactly where he was and exactly which sections of vegetation he already had cleared. They were a team and the comradery that gave her felt good. 

The best part or perhaps the worst had been when they were under attack by the baboons and two of them had the drop on Robin. He’d been about the get hit just when she’d notched two arrows and released them simultaneously, nailing both targets in their control collars. Robin had glanced her way and she’d just been about to supply a quip, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth, when he’d thrown two of his batarangs strait beyond her, saving her just moments after she’d done the same for him. They had shared a furtive smile then before delving back into the fray. 

The bad guy, some weird brain thing that Kid Obvious had deduced was, in fact, a brain, had been defeated and M’gann had flown them back to Mount Justice safely in her bioship. 

Robin and Kaldur were now finishing the last touches to the team’s written report as Food’s-Gone-in-a-Flash raided the kitchen for any last crumbs he might have missed in the first sprint through and M’gann and Conner snuggled together on the comfy chair in front of the plasma. 

Artemis sighed at the sight, for they were annoyingly adorable, and went to the female locker room to change into her civvies. She tugged on the ancient pair of faded jeans she found stashed in the back of her locker, as well as a white tank and her familiar black jacket she kept pegged on the locker door. She was just lacing her tennis shoes when she heard a ruckus coming from the entrance. 

Kid Flash was pleading with his mentor, the Flash, to stay a bit longer. “But we just survived two life-threatening missions and deserve a little party time to celebrate the fact that we’re still…you know, breathing!” he whined. 

But the Flash didn’t seem to be having any of it. With a shake of his Hermes-ornamented head, he said firmly, “No can do, Kid. Your mom will give Iris a tongue lashing if I don’t get you back home in a…” he allowed a small grin, “Well, in a flash. Believe you and me, we’re all perfectly well aware of the fact that you’ve survived some pretty close calls lately. Mary won’t let us forget. Now let’s speed!”

“Umm… uncle Barry, I am actually pretty tired. You go ahead and run. I’ll take the transport beam.”

The Flash looked startled. “Wow, you really are beat. Alright Kid, see you home!” and he was gone. 

Kid Grounded turned to the rest of them, noticing Artemis as she emerged from the locker rooms. He nodded at her and addressed all of them, heaving a sigh. “Okay, scratch tonight’s plans but tomorrow. Here. Everyone brings something sugary. We’re going to celebrate the weekend in proper style! I’m bringing nachos!” 

M’gann looked perplexed. “What are…natoes?”

Kid Cheesy, after recovering from his initial shock, then felt honor bound to launch into a five-minute lecture about the varying states of nachos, their history, their popularity, and finally, their importance on the food pyramid. Just when Artemis feared he’d pull out a graph, Robin stepped up and said, “Dairy/wheat ‘tegration later. Your mom’s going to kill you.”

Kid Flash looked at his watch and then his whole body seemed to vibrate for a second like he wasn’t even there. “Dude! Thanks man. So nachos everyone! Tomorrow!” And he super sped into the portal. 

After he’d left, Artemis shook her head in disbelief and flopped onto the couch. She began flipping though the channels on the giant plasma, ignoring the sucking sounds coming from the lovebirds. One of the premium channels was showing ‘Three Day’s of the Condor’, one of Artemis’s favorite movies. She turned up the volume enough to drown out the couple’s make-out session and leaned back into the pillowy goodness of the huge couch. 

Her mom didn’t believe in paying for channels, she actually thought television was a waste of time. Artemis planned on enjoying the League amenities for as long as she could. It was a Friday night and her mom knew she’d be out late. Plus, she hadn’t seen this movie since she was a little kid. She wondered if it would be as good this time around. A lot had changed. 

Kaldur and Robin came in while the poor CIA analyst was off getting his lunch as his friends were being killed. Robin took a glance at the movie and plopped down beside her. “Conspiracy thriller- little ‘turbing with our present mole, don’tcha think?”

“Actually, it seems to fit pretty well,” she said a little more primly than she’d meant to. She scooted closer to Robin to make room for Kaldur. “Want to join us? It’s a good film, happy endings as only celluloid can deliver and all that.” 

Kaldur regarded the screen for a moment, witnessing the hero as he came across the bloody sight of his fallen friends. “Uh… I shall pass,” he apologized. “Enough violence for one day.” 

Artemis nodded, prepared to tell him goodnight, but before she could stop it she found herself saying, “I’m sorry for the way I behaved earlier. You were just trying to do what you thought was right. That’s all any of us can do.”

A flush of gratitude washed over Aqualad’s normally serene features. “Thank you,” he said at last, his guileless sea-green eyes seeming to bore a hole strait into her soul. “Have a restful evening.” 

As his quiet footsteps retreated, Artemis became increasingly uncomfortably aware of just how close she was sitting to the wonder bird. It probably had to do with the expansive stretch of couch off to her side. Disproportionate things tended to bother her, possibly because she was such a perfectionist. 

Not that she considered that a bad trait. On the contrary, the skills that made her Young Justice caliber stemmed from her need for things to be precise.  
Although Robin was engrossed, or seemingly engrossed in the movie- it was so hard to tell with his lenses- Artemis felt the need to break the silence or say something so she could move and it not be an awkward thing. 

“You, umm…going to stay in your costume all night?”

Robin looked down at his costume, not too much the worse for their trip to the Asian subcontinent and their battle with rabid, collar-controlled wild animals. “The pants are starting to chafe a little…why? You want me in something else?” He gave her a little grin. 

Artemis couldn’t help it, she laughed. “Alright, sorry. It’s just…” she glanced over at M’gann and Conner who were *still* engrossed in one another and then back to Robin’s amused face. “You have to admit that it’s a little- ”

“ -‘Kward?” He finished for her. 

She nodded. 

“Right,” He started suddenly, getting up and then offering her a hand, he easily pulled her up too. She noticed absently that he was only an inch or two shorter than herself. “You,” he said, giving her a little shove toward the kitchen, “Are going to make popcorn- I keep a stash from KF in the sink cabinet, he never checks there, emphasis on the butter- and I, am going to go change into some civvies that smell a little less like baboon butt. Then we’re going to rendezvous back here in five and watch the rest of this movie. If a certain couple is still at it, they might accidentally find themselves on the receiving end of some butterpops.”

“You mean popcorn.”

“No, I mean to dive-bomb it on top of them so the butter will explode. So butterpops works.”

She laughed and happily started off for the kitchen. “You’re a little diabolical,” she called back over her shoulder. 

Robin gave his creepy ninja laugh and disappeared. 

She paused for a moment, a faint recollection teetering on the border of her memories. Too bad it escaped her like one of Dick’s math jokes. 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Artemis loved this movie, really she did. But she found herself contemplating the boy next to her or stealing glances at him more than she could actually say she was paying attention to the film. 

Just like his mentor, the boy was a mystery and mysteries, by their very nature, required solving. 

She didn’t even know his name. It felt natural to call him Robin- he really did seem to fly through the air sometimes- but his real name could be anything. It could be Tom, Dick, or Harry for all she knew. Or maybe Jason. That name inspired a certain kind of flippant boyishness to it. 

And his age. He was obviously the youngest member of their squad but just how much younger? One year? Three? It was difficult to gage with his erratic maturity levels. 

Another thing were his thoughts. He wasn’t overly chatty like Kid Gab and it didn’t help that he could do that ninja voodoo stuff. Sometimes he would just vanish and she’d have to remind herself that he’d really been standing there next to them just a moment ago. 

Also with the vexing impenetrable visors. 

Even as he watched the movie, he wore a pair of black sunglasses, impossible to see through. 

“Can you actually see the screen or are you asleep?” Artemis finally asked him. 

He leveled his offending shades at her, his expression a blank slate. “These aren’t your normal sun glasses.”

“What, they have sonar?”

“Har har. No, let’s just say I can see super’fectly fine in them.”

“I think you did another disservice to the English language just then.”

“I think it will get over it.”

Artemis jutted her chin out and asked what had been pressing on her like a weight since the thought of heading back to Gotham to her mom had hit her, “Are you waiting to leave until I do?” 

“I could ask you the same.”

“P-O-S-S-I-B-I-L-I-T-Y. But mostly I’m just tired from nearly dying a few times in the last forty-eight hours and enjoying the couch. Your turn.” She threw a ‘butterpop’ at his face that he proceeded to amazingly catch in his mouth. 

“Mmmm…buttery. And nopppe,” he said, popping the p. “In L-I-E-U - which is an awesome ‘dition to our otherwise lacking language- of our perilous plights, Bats has given me a rare night off which I plan to enjoy. What you do in Gotham is your own business as long as you’re aware that the Bat knows your every move.”

“Comforting.” 

“He means well.” Robin stretched and shoved Artemis away from him, carefully placing the nearly empty tub of popcorn on the floor. 

“Hey!”

“Hey nothing. I need to stretch out.” And to her astonishment, he laid his body sideways on the couch to enjoy the movie, his head boldly coming to rest on her lap. 

“Umm…this isn’t my idea of ‘enjoying’ the couch,” Artemis huffed to the side of his ebony-haired head. 

“T-O-U-G-H,” he replied, an impish smirk just visible from her vantage point above him. “It’s my night off.”

‘Mine too…’ Artemis muttered to herself before giving in with a sigh and accepting that Robin was going to use her shamelessly as a pillow that night and that she didn’t even mind. Much.


	3. Death by Fake Lilly

Disclaimer: I don’t own ‘Young Justice’. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Artemis had to admit it. The way Kid Flash had stood up for her against Count Vertigo had been rather endearing. In fact, his whole demeanor toward her since their party last Saturday had been friendlier, almost- dare she think it- flirtatious. 

Maybe it had to do with the fact that the whole team was now aware of M’gann’s and Conner’s relationship and Kid had to let go of his E.T. fantasies. Then again, that wasn’t really being fair to him. He seemed to be attracted to M’gann in the same way she was to Superboy. It’s not like she wanted to date the clone. 

Still though, just because Conner and M’gann had decided to pair up didn’t mean she was automatically supposed to hook up with a fellow leaguer. In fact, the last two weeks at Gotham Academy had assured Artemis that there were other guys out there. Guys that could formulate coherent sentences and discuss things besides football and their next night getting wasted who didn’t even have to wear spandex on a daily basis. 

“Duck Artie!” Kid shouted as he supersped body-slammed Poison Ivy off to her right. Artemis wasted no time in promptly taking his advice just as Black Adam hurled harmlessly through the air over her to splash into the swamp behind her. 

Kid supersped next to her. “Thanks,” She nodded as they both took a quick survey of the battle being waged all around them. M’gann was gracefully waging an aerial assault on Count Vertigo and Atomic Skull as Conner and Wolf viciously went after the Ultra-Humanite. Kaldur, locked inside Doctor Fate, was still holding off Wotan’s overwhelming display of magic but seemed to be losing steam. Of Robin and the Joker there was no sight. Ivy seemed to be momentarily out of it from the speedster’s assault but Black Adam was already back on his feet and charging the duo. “Think you can dance a bit with the big guy?” Artemis asked the redhead. “Miss Martian looks like she could use a hand.” 

“I can dance all night,” he said with a wink before speeding off to divert Black Adam. 

Artemis didn’t waste time rolling her eyes, instead she sprinted toward M’gann, cursing for about the fiftieth time that night that she’d lost her bow and quiver. She really needed to invest in one of those magical weapons that would always return to her pocket in pint-size form when it was misplaced. But then she’d need pockets in her skin-tight pants…

She dove to her left as an errant ray from Doctor Fate and Wotan’s battle flew her way and had to dive into a portion of the bayou when Atomic Skull sent a wave of his radiation at her. It was as she was climbing out of the swamp onto mushy land, preparing to distract the toxic freak again and vowing that her next mission would include absolutely no bodies of water to drown in that she finally spotted where the Joker had gotten off to. 

He was wildly slicing and jabbing at Robin with a switchblade, slowly driving the boy wonder into one of Ivy’s frantically flaying vine creations and laughing hysterically the entire time. 

Artemis spared a glance back at M’gann, seeing that the Martian had skull-head and count-yabbers playing off each other, and without another thought quickly rushed toward the sociopathic clown.

Being a Gotham City native, Artemis was no stranger to the Joker’s grotesque motley countenance and his psychotic yellow grin. His face appeared on television more often than the President’s. However, she’d never actually confronted him and she definitely had never heard his ear-splitting, hair-raising cackle up close. 

Aside from being distracting, it was literally an assault on the ears. However, Artemis used it to her advantage to sneak up behind the clown and deliver a stunning roundhouse kick, momentarily knocking the wind out of him and quieting the maniacal laughter. Robin took the advantage to launch into a butterfly, the Joker’s switchblade flying into the swamp. 

“Tag-team time!” Robin pronounced and they began the deadly dance with the world’s most insane villain. 

“Well! What’s this bird boy?” Joker grinned, effortlessly parrying their blows, his impossibly wide grin never wavering. “Got yourself a girlfriend?” His bloodshot eyes gleefully regarded Artemis for a brief moment, making her feel even more naked than she already did without her weapons, before he masqueraded concern onto his madly made-up face. “Does daddy-batty know?”

Robin, ignoring him, blocked the uppercut aimed at his jaw and drove his knee into the Joker’s stomach as Artemis caught a nasty cross to her cheek and momentarily saw a few stars. 

The Joker grunted as Artemis reeled backward. Robin used the small opening to lay on a barrage of fists and steel-reinforced kicks, not allowing the Joker a second to regroup. The crazy clown didn’t seem fazed however. He just kept up a steady stream of conversation as though he and Robin were old pals. 

“You know wonder-blunder, this whole chauvinistic persona you’re developing really isn’t very attractive to the young ladies. They’re all about feminism these…” he caught a nasty elbow to the cheek and then went on, his smile stretching impossibly, “…days.” He twisted and weaved his body away from Robin’s assault like a water-dancer, finally clearing a few feet of space between them. “If you really want to impress,” he withdrew a metallic black sphere from somewhere within the myriad of folds in his patchwork purple jacket, “Give her flowers.” With that, he pressed a button, activating the sphere and releasing the ugliest assortment of wanna-be lilies Artemis had ever seen. The glossy plastic sheen reflected off the surface of the white petals as they flew like pin missiles towards her. She had just enough time to think, ‘Hmm…death by fake lily,’ before Robin barreled into her, knocking her to the ground and taking one of the petals strait to his kevlar chest. 

“ROBIN!” she cried, immediately crawling over to him. He was unconscious and there was a sizable whole in the front of his uniform, revealing a nasty gash on his chest over his sternum. A thin line of blood was trickling out the corner of his uncharacteristically frowning mouth. 

“Now, now,” the Joker chided, “On the other hand, it’s very rude for a young lady to reject gifts that are given to her.” Drawing another sphere, his eyes dancing with frenetic zeal, he cackled, “Let’s try it again!”

Artemis sprung to her feet and dived to the side as he launched the first petal. He seemed to be using it more like a gun now, aiming the deadly projectiles one at a time as he made her dance before him like a marionette. 

Artemis pivoted and crab-stepped, dove and rolled, jumped and flipped, and finally, her chest heaving and her heart pounding in her ears, tripped. She fell in a tangle a few yards from Robin, her face buried in the soft mud, the taste of swamp water and sweat on her tongue. Off in the distance, she could see Doctor Fate falling through the air and Kid Flash plummeting into a tree. The Joker advanced on her, shaking his head with theatric sorrow as though he were very disappointed. “I just don’t see you kids working out,” he said solemnly. “He’s just too bird-brained and you’re just too, well…” he pointed the sphere strait between her wide, gray eyes, his voice dropping dangerously, “…dead.”

A flood of adrenalin pulsed through her veins as Artemis rolled to her side in time to avoid the petal. She applied a swift kip-up and executed a lightning-fast kick to the clown’s groin area. The Joker doubled over with a moan. “That’s not how you’re supposed to play!” he cried in a pitiful wail, both his hands invariably clutching the afflicted site. 

“Who’s playing?” A rough growl echoed from behind the Joker, decking the clown when he turned. The Joker fell into an unconscious heap before the Caped Crusader, a comical look of ‘aw…drat’ on his motley face. 

Artemis had never been happier to see the league leader. She ran to his side as he crouched next to his unmoving partner. “He knocked me out of the way and took a…err…petal thing to the chest,” she said hurriedly as Batman assessed Robin and then gently gathered the boy up in his arms, making Robin look ridiculously small and very pale now that she could see him more clearly. Worriedly, she asked, “Is he going to be alright?”

Batman briefly spared a look in her direction. “He needs medical attention immediately. The rest of the league is here now as well. Inform them of my departure.” And then his batjet was streaming overhead and a cable was winching the dynamic duo away, all in a matter of seconds. 

Artemis blinked, suddenly confronted with the quiet echo of the swamp all around her. She strained her ears for sounds of explosions and screams that had pervaded the night air only a few moments before but there was only the stark sound of silence. 

Using the mental-link that M’gann had established at the beginning of their mission, Artemis called, ‘Joker down, need assistance. Batman had to take Robin. He’s in pretty rough shape. What’s the status for the rest of the team?’

It took a moment before M’gann’s voice echoed in her head, an unusual hollowness to it. ‘The remaining foes have been defeated by the Justice League but Kaldur… we’re not sure if he’s going to make it out of the mask…’ she thought fretfully.

‘He never should have put it on,’ Kid lamented. Artemis could practically see the frustrated speedster nervously pacing in her mind’s eye.   
‘We wouldn’t have made it if he hadn’t,’ Superboy pointed out pragmatically. 

“Artemis,” a feminine voice interrupted, resonating from behind the archer and spooking her so badly that she hit a root and fell flat on her face- not her most graceful of moments. Powerful slender hands picked her up bodily, and deposited her lightly back on her feet. 

Artemis found herself face to face with Wonder Woman, the actual Amazon Princess herself, who bore an expression of mild concern in the angular features of her regal face. “Are you alright child?” she asked gently. 

Artemis, confronted with her idol, could only nod mutely.

Wonder Woman effortlessly hoisted the Joker over her shoulder and grabbed Artemis around the waist. “Batman just told me that you had taken on the Joker yourself,” she said by way of explanation as they flew through the air above the bayou canopy. “You must be very brave.”

“Or very stupid,” Artemis muttered. 

Wonder Woman, of course being a meta, heard her and smiled. But it wasn’t an accusing or otherwise cruel smile, more of a sympathetic one. “Selflessly protecting your teammates is never ‘stupid’. And I believe you have just earned Batman’s grudging approval- no easy task in itself,” she confided with a conspiratorial gleam in her sapphire eyes. 

Artemis, even though she was talking to her heroine, could only scoff, “I’ll take your word for it.” She very much doubted the Dark Knight had been impressed with her. More likely, he blamed her for letting Robin get hurt and the sad thing was, she couldn’t really disagree. She had been the reason he’d gotten shot. 

They touched down and Wonder Woman released Artemis, tossing the Joker to the ground in front of the other villains like a sack of overripe potatoes. Artemis quickly sought out her teammates and found Kaldur once again sporting his own face, the helm of fate secure in his hands. Kid Flash looked relieved enough to pass out and M’gann was in the process of giving the stoic Atlantean a fierce hug. Conner was looking on passively as he reassuringly stroked the mud-caked fur of a weary looking Wolf. 

‘Almost complete,’ Artemis thought despondently. 

Kid Flash looked up and rushed to her, almost bulling Artemis over in the process of giving her a tight squeeze. She froze for a moment, then relaxed and hugged the speedster back. He really could be very sweet sometimes, she relented. 

They pulled apart and he must have sensed- or perhaps heard as they were still linked up via M’gann’s telepathy- that she was distraught.   
Just thinking the word almost made her tear up. 

“How bad is Robin?” he asked immediately. 

She bit her lip. “He… he’s pretty bad. He took a shot intended for me strait to the chest. I’m not sure how much his suit was able to protect him.” An image of the blood staining his pale chin assaulted her vision and a small sob escaped her lips. 

The rest of the team gathered around her, hearing the news and offering their comfort. Kaldur placed a strong, comforting arm around her shoulders as M’gann sympathetically clutched her hand. Conner looked on the verge of an emotion and Wolf reared up to lick her cheek. 

Green Arrow intruded upon their quiet moment, his eyes on his ‘niece’ as he told them, “Batman radioed in that Robin’s been stabilized.”

“Can we see him?” Artemis asked immediately. 

Green Arrow frowned and Kid Flash shook his head sadly. “There’s no way the bats is going to jeopardize their identity so we can visit. If he says Robin is stable, he is. We’ll just have to wait it out.”

The older archer nodded grimly at the assessment. “I’m afraid he’s right Artie.” The transport for the Injustice League arrived and Superman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, and Captain Marvel began escorting the prisoners onboard as Young Justice looked on. 

Aquaman came up to them, his golden hair shining oddly in the dank red-glow of the swamp. He clasped Kaldur on the shoulder. “Your team performed admirably Aqualad.”

Aqualad inclined his head, “We thank you, my King. But I fear that, had Fate not intervened, this would have been a very different scenario.”

“Regardless,” the Flash said as he supersped next to his protégé, “In the end, the bad lost and the good prevailed. I say you kids head back to Mount Justice and once you finish up your debrief, head back home for some well-earned rest. You’ve had three very demanding missions and hardly any break.”

Green Arrow nodded. “We promise we’ll get word to you as soon as we hear anything about Robin.”

The team nodded glumly and M’gann’s bioship picked them up. Artemis slowly ascended the ramp and looked back for one last view of the swamp. Black Canary caught her eye and called, “Sparring for tomorrow night is cancelled. Spread the word. My treat for a job well-done.”

She meant it to lighten the mood but Artemis doubted that anything short of Robin bursting into the ship and laughing his crazy ninja laugh could have done that. Almost the entire trip back to Mount Justice was flown in silence. 

Artemis looked on the long faces of Kid Flash and Kaldur, the former of which looking like his puppy had just died, and wondered idly if the team would be so bereft should something befall her. She didn’t think so. 

Although…

After the rough patch with M’gann when she’d hit on Conner, the Martian girl had taken to Artemis like a long-lost sister and although Artemis herself didn’t necessarily feel that close to the alien yet, she could feel a growing fondness for the girl welling up inside her like a cake rising in M’gann’s oven. The older girl had an unstoppable charm to her that forced you to like her. It was probably part of her Martian physiology or something. 

And Kaldur seemed to always be watching over her. Like tonight, when they’d found themselves fighting duchess-vertigo and poisoness-face, he’d quickly and calmly known just how to reassure her and they’d had each other’s backs. And when he’d sensed how upset she was just now, he’d been there to comfort her. 

As for the Kid…

Being perfectly honest with herself, it seemed like he was growing on her and visa-versa. 

And Conner- well, he probably didn’t hate her but it was always hard to tell with him. 

Since Kaldur and Robin had done the last report, Artemis volunteered to help the speedster with the newest one. They were sitting together at the counter, Artemis typing, and Kid Flash going over the events with the rest of the team very noticeably sans the boy wonder. M’gann, as usual, was baking some cookies- white chocolate macadamia nut this time- and Conner was, as usual, watching her bake with something akin to wonder in his stunning blue eyes- although Artemis reflected that she had in fact seen even more stunning blue eyes before, on her nerdy math partner in Pre-Cal but still, she’d give credit where credit was due. 

“…and then Kent Nelson requested on my behalf for Fate to relinquish its hold over me. Artemis? Are you listening?” Kaldur shook her lightly. 

Artemis felt her cheeks fluster. “Oh, right! Sorry… Go on.”

“That was it. Wonder Woman showed up with the Joker and you. Then the rest of the villains were taken off by the Justice League,” their leader finished. 

“Something isn’t adding up,” the speedster murmured as he read the report from her laptop. Artemis acutely felt his presence as he leaned over her shoulder. 

“What is it?” Conner asked, taking a cookie from the tray directly after M’gann had pulled it out of the oven. They looked on with amazement as he shoved the piping hot dough in his mouth and uttered a sigh of contentment. He tossed another smoking hot cookie to Wolf who jumped to catch it neatly and then promptly spit it out, whining furiously as he rushed to his water bowl, his long pink tongue scalded and his fluffy white tail tucked between his legs. 

The Kid tore his eyes away from the cookies with longing regret that they were still so hot he’d lose his esophagus before being able to ingest them and said, “Yea, so…” he supersped to the desktop and pulled up one of their previous mission reports, his fingers flying over the keyboard. “Remember all the goings on we had with Cadmus?”

“Hard to forget,” Conner muttered darkly. 

“Well, I find it very difficult to believe that Poison Ivy, Black Adam, Count-Vertigo, Atomic-Skull, and the Ultra-Humanite could have been behind all that as well. Even Wotan. Not to mention that this is way too methodical for the Joker –”

“-The rampaging psycho-freak,” Artemis supplied, seeing where he was going with this. 

The speedster nodded. “When he works in conjunction with any of the other major big-bads his M.O. is always as distraction.”

“So you believe that the Injustice League we helped defeat today was a front,” Kaldur uttered pensively. 

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Artemis cautioned. “The Joker doesn’t really play well with anyone. It’s amazing enough that the bad guys could even work together long enough to formulate a plan. To say that they were just one aspect of some larger collaboration- and it would have to be a very elaborate, extremely withit collaboration- is stretching a bit.”

The speedster didn’t like that. “So you think this group we fought tonight has been responsible for all the other issues we’ve been facing?” Kid Flash asked, his green eyes narrowing. 

“No, I wouldn’t go that far,” she placated. “It’s just that we don’t know enough right now. I definitely think you’re onto something though.” 

He looked very pleased when she added that last part. “Well, let’s include our suspicions in the debrief then.”

“I agree,” Aqualad affirmed. “Let the League make of it what they will; perhaps they will have additional insight.”

Artemis added a few extra sentences to their report and when Kid… 

She stopped before hitting ‘submit’. “Kid Flash…”

He stopped, mid-chew, bits of white chocolate dribbling from his mouth. 

“What’s your actual name? I don’t want to call you Kid anymore.”

He looked very surprised. “Uh…umm…” he stalled, finishing his cookie and another five in quick succession before finally coming to a decision. “I know your name… although who uses their real name for their super-hero name anyway?” She slapped him lightly on the arm. “Ow! Alright, alright. It’s… Wally.” 

“Wally?” She didn’t mean for it to come out like it was a dweeby name you’d bestow on your pet turtle but just hearing the name tumble from her mouth she knew it had. Before he could espouse some indignities however, she quickly added with an over-amped beam, “Great name!” 

He glared at her. 

When the laughter came she hid it behind her hand. “Sorry…” she sobered herself and made sure he knew she was serious before she went on. “It’s just that this whole night I haven’t once had the urge to make fun of you and it’s kind of hard to keep it that way when I keep having to refer to you as ‘Kid Flash.’” 

He continued to glare, folding his arms over his chest. 

“Okay…err, I’ll just submit this report now.”

The others had moved off toward the den by then and the two of them continued to sit in terse silence for a few more minutes as she uploaded the debrief. Finally, Wally said, “You haven’t made fun of me the entire night?”

She nodded cautiously. 

“Man, do I feel guilty now…” he said with a grin, springing up from the stool as she made to smack him in the head. 

Artemis followed after him and belatedly felt her own remorse as she wished Robin was there in the kitchen with them, smirking his smirk as she and Wally chased each other.


End file.
